Middle Gate School Plan

Helps Students Become Self-Directed

By Tanjua Damon

Middle Gate’s  School Improvement Plan provides goals that will help create self-directed learners and a learning environment that prepares the students for what they will face in the future, according to the school’s principal.

Principal Judith Gallo as well as several Middle Gate staff members presented the school improvement plan to the board of education Tuesday night, explaining that the school’s goals are much the same as last year, but will be refined and developed further to meet the needs of the entire school community.

“The plan really does force you to look at what you are doing,” Ms Gallo said. “The plan sort of reflects the culture of the district. There aren’t a lot of new things in the plan, but there is a lot of work going into refining the plan.”

The plan focuses on four goals. The first is to continue to build a strong literacy program at Middle Gate. To do this, the staff will continue to work on implementing the four-block literacy model of independent reading, guided reading, writing workshop, and working with words. Other efforts will be to continue to provide texts at a variety of levels to support content area curriculum; add non-fiction texts for guided reading materials; studying reading portfolios; implement grammar program in upper levels; and develop a curriculum writing team to sequence grammar and editing skills in all grades.

The second goal is to strive to integrate real world applications to math and science instruction. Some strategies for this goal include developing a system analysis using technology; considering remediation options for children who need extra time and help in math; continuing to provide math/science nights; model lessons in estimation for third and fourth grade; differentiating instruction for all students; and forming an action research group to study authentic math/technology/science experiences which could appeal to both genders.

The third goal addresses continuing to build a school/family and community partnership. The school’s action plan calls for continuing to survey parents; developing action steps and setting a three year plan which focuses on communication, collaborating with the community, and expands volunteer opportunities; building parent/family and community area within the school; and continuing the work of the School/Family/Community Partnership committee.

The final goal focuses on the use of technology to facilitate learning. The plan calls for continuing the work on curriculum maps linking technology skills with the curriculum; compiling a list of Web sites for teachers, students, and parents; creating Web pages communicating curriculum standards and units of study; and entering language arts curriculum-based assessment data into Filemaker Pro software.

“This plan is working because of the work of the people behind you,” Ms Gallo said. “Because of their initiative things are happening. It’s an action plan with more analysis of data. We think they are strong goals and will focus on what we need to do.”